Santa Monica High School Football Joins Team ‘Non-Wussy Yoga’

In our next installment of ‘Yoga is not too wussy for HS or football‘, come the Santa Monica Vikings! Let’s hear it for the boys! And Yoga. And coach Jason Battung who pushed through the snickers and giggles to help improve the team! Taking a page from the playbook of a handsome handful of pro-athlete yogis these days, coach Battung introduced the yog to the Santa Monica High School football team four months ago and has already seen improvements.

All you HS football coaches out there take note (we know that’s the majority of YD readers). Besides core strength and flexibility, for Battung and his Vikings, Yoga has most positively affected:

agility – muscles are looser and can react better due to oxygen and blood moving more freely

focus – the poor fellas struggle with sitting still quietly, but it makes a difference when penalties and errors come into play on the field.

Not to mention one of our personal faves: ‘prehabiliation‘.

The young jocks seem to be coming around to team yoga:

“Everybody thought it was weird,” senior wide receiver Chris Featherstone said. “After we realized this is helping us be more flexible, we all opened up to it.”

“We may not have taken it seriously at first, but it is really helpful,” starting senior quarterback Garrett Safron said.

Did we mention these are teenage bros saying this?

Coach B admits the acceptance of yoga does have something to do with Santa Monica’s general connection with the yog lifestyle, but if the words of the players themselves are any indication, we’re pretty sure you’ll be seeing yoga on the training curriculum for many a high school jockstrappers to come. They’re gonna have to start sewing Y’s on the letterman jackets! What, too far?

I wonder if “senior wide receiver Chris Featherstone” gets his chops busted for having the same last name as the character who played the same position (and couldn’t catch) in the movie “Necessary Roughness”.

My grandson plays for Samo Hi Varsity and really enjoys his yoga experience. He is 15, and notices how yoga has helped his flexability and focus. I’m proud he is open for new experiences, and “being macho” does include yoga. By the way, his name is Dylan Muscat. If he keeps going in the direction his life is taking him, you’ll be hearing his name in the future. P.S. He is also a top student, raised by a single father.